


what it would be like to love you

by ghosthunter



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Knotting, M/M, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, hyunjin is the town bike, please help the betas they are suffering, so much scenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:54:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28161258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghosthunter/pseuds/ghosthunter
Summary: “It’s kind of - it’s a huge favor. And I would owe you so big, and I promise I won’t be mad if you say no,” Hyunjin says.“Again,” Changbin says, rolling onto his side and propping his head up on his elbow to look at Hyunjin, “depends on what it is.”“Um,” Hyunjin says, and he’s not looking at Changbin, but he’s blushing, his cheeks and ears turning red. “I want you to - you know, um. I don’t want to go through my first heat alone."
Relationships: Bang Chan/Hwang Hyunjin, Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin | I.N
Comments: 33
Kudos: 417
Collections: Aphanite Skz





	what it would be like to love you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [llwyncelyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/llwyncelyn/gifts).



> this was just supposed to be the flip of [falling into place like dominoes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28039899) and if that got out of hand this super did.
> 
> anyway, thanks to spitthedark for the beta and screamlet for being a sounding board.

**i. felix**  
They’re working on choreography when Felix goes into heat.

Changbin is the one who notices that something is weird first, because he’s the youngest Alpha in the group and he’s never been around an Omega before, except in passing, and never around an Omega in heat. He’s catching his breath against the back wall, Minho is next to him, and there’s a burst of sweetness in the air that he doesn’t recognize.

Felix and Hyunjin are at the front of the room by the mirrors, stepping through part of the choreography they’ve been running through. Both of them are drenched in sweat and Changbin doesn’t remember getting to his feet, but he’s nearly on top of Felix before he even realizes what’s going on and Felix is looking at him, surprised.

He can hear Hyunjin yelling what he assumes are words - or maybe not, it’s Hyunjin, he might just be yelling - and then someone pushing between him and Felix.

When the white noise in his ears stops, he realizes someone is speaking.

“We knew it had to happen sooner or later.” Changbin realizes it’s one of their managers speaking and he tries to get his bearings. Felix is moved to the other side of the room and it’s just Hyunjin and Minho still next to Changbin. 

“Didn’t you feel ill?” That question is directed at Felix, who kind of shrugs, which says a lot for the ways they take care of themselves. Felix should have spoken up if he didn’t feel well. He should have told them.

“I wish you’d told me,” Changbin hears Chan saying, and finally his eyes find Chan. Chan, their leader. Chan, who is standing so close to Felix, who has reached out and taken Felix’s hand in his.

Chan, who has been in love with Felix since the day they met. 

It’s not a surprise that Felix is an Omega. He was tested just like everyone else when he joined the company, and they revealed conclusively that he would one day present as an Omega, just like Changbin’s said he’d be an Alpha. There was no inconclusive result there - not like Jisung and Jeongin, who teeter on the precipices of being Betas, or who could be something else entirely.

Felix and Chan have been waiting for this. Changbin knows they have. It’s just a matter of if their management will let a brand new Omega choose an Alpha this soon.

“What were you doing?” Minho whispers to him.

“I don’t know,” Changbin says. “I just reacted. I didn’t - there was no. Thinking.”

It was all instinct. He’d smelled an Omega in heat, and he’d gone to that Omega. It didn’t matter that he knew the Omega was spoken for. It didn’t matter that Chan was his friend. It just mattered that there was an Omega in the room, and he was an Alpha.

He’s never hated what he is more than in this second.

“He should have said something,” Hyunjin whispers. His eyes are wide and he’s not looking at Changbin or Minho, but past them, watching Felix. “He must have been miserable.”

Hyunjin would know, Changbin thinks. He’s probably been told for years what Omega presentation is like. What going into heat is like. They probably didn’t even actually need to test Hyunjin to know that he was going to be an Omega. Every inch of Hyunjin screams it, even though he’s still unpresented.

He looks scared.

“You can choose what you want, you know,” Changbin says. His instinct is to protect, and if one of his pack mates is scared, then - well. He has the urge even if Hyunjin isn’t really an Omega, not yet. It’s there, lurking under his skin. Waiting. “You don’t have to go with someone. Felix and Chan are just - “

“I don’t want to go alone. Can you imagine doing it alone?” Hyunjin’s voice is quiet.

Changbin can’t imagine going through heat alone, actually, because Changbin can’t really imagine going through heat. It actually sounds kind of great to him, a little sex vacation where all you want is to get fucked. Alphas don’t spend ruts alone, either spending them with a partner or paying for a service, and they’re so much fewer and farther between than heats.

Chan leaves when Felix leaves and Minho sighs.

“Come on,” he says. “Let’s get back to work.”

With Felix and Chan gone, Changbin has his room to himself. At first, he thought that it would be great, but it turns out that it’s actually kind of weird. He’s used to no one going to sleep right away, Felix never shutting up until Chan tells Felix he’ll smother him if he doesn’t shut up. It’s weird waking up the first morning and finding both their beds empty, not just Felix’s where he’s climbed in and curled up against Chan.

They keep working, even with Chan and Felix gone, but it’s weird. It’s subdued, it’s quieter. At first, Hyunjin tries to keep up a steady stream of jokes and conversation, but after a while he gives up. He’s not Felix and he can’t pretend to be.

After they get back to the dorm that night, he comes into Changbin’s room and stretches out on the bed next to him. His hair is tied back behind his head and he’s bare faced and Changbin wants to hit him because he’s so beautiful it’s disgusting. He rests his chin on his arms and looks at Changbin.

“Can I ask you something, like, super personal?” Hyunjin says. He taps socked toes against Changbin’s ankle.

“Depends on what it is?” Changbin says. They’ve lived together for years. They know each other. Changbin is pretty sure there’s not a lot of personal information they don’t already know about each other.

“It’s kind of - it’s a huge favor. And I would owe you so big, and I promise I won’t be mad if you say no,” Hyunjin says. Changbin feels the dread settle over him. Hyunjin asking for favors usually doesn’t end well.

“Again,” Changbin says, rolling onto his side and propping his head up on his elbow to look at Hyunjin, “depends on what it is.”

“Um,” Hyunjin says, and he’s not looking at Changbin, but he’s blushing, his cheeks and ears turning red. “I want you to - you know, um.”

Hyunjin stops and smashes his face into Changbin’s mattress. His ears are so red, and Changbin reaches out and flicks Hyunjin’s ponytail where it’s sticking up from the back of his head. Hyunjin turns his head slightly so that only one eye is peeking out, looking up at Changbin, a lock of blonde hair falling across it.

“I don’t want to go through my first heat alone,” Hyunjin finally says, his voice quiet and muffled even more still by his face still being mostly pressed into the mattress. Changbin hears him anyway.

He honestly doesn’t know what to say. He remembers the reaction he had to Felix going into heat right there in the same room with him, the way his instincts had kicked in and every part of him had screamed “fertile Omega!” and “must breed!” and now that Changbin is distanced from it, he doesn’t like the way that feels. He doesn’t want to feel that way toward his friends, and it doesn’t matter how well he knows Hyunjin, or how beautiful Hyunjin is.

“You don’t have to say yes,” Hyunjin says, but he sounds sad. Changbin isn’t the only Alpha he knows, or even the only one that Hyunjin is close to or around all the time. Changbin is sure that Chan isn’t going to take both Hyunjin and Felix on - he can’t imagine anyone would want to, even if Chan weren’t obviously actually in love with Felix. Hyunjin and Felix at once would be a lot of Omega. Each of them alone is a lot.

Unless Jeongin’s or Jisung’s inconclusive tests turn out to be Alpha - unlikely, but not impossible - Changbin might be his only option. Someone outside the group, maybe, but Changbin understands wanting someone familiar. Someone he knows. Someone who’s around all the time and can take care of him the way an Alpha should.

“You should… have an Alpha you want to be with,” Changbin says. He feels like that’s the fair thing to say. “I understand why you’re asking, but - “

“It’s just scary,” Hyunjin says. Changbin looks at Hyunjin, one bright eye looking up at Changbin, heavy lashes and perfect eyebrows. He thinks about the way Hyunjin looked in the practice studio when Felix went into heat, how scared he’d seemed. And Changbin knows they’re both so young, and this is only even a hypothetical.

“I know,” Changbin says, his voice going soft. He reaches out and puts an arm around Hyunjin and pulls him close. Hyunjin shifts to bury his face against Changbin’s chest. They lay in the quiet, in a room that’s usually filled with nonstop noise. Changbin isn’t even sure that Hyunjin isn’t crying into his t-shirt, overwhelmed with the idea of his existence, his identity.

Changbin feels like there’s a whole chasm between them, in spite of Changbin not really being that much older than Hyunjin. Being an Alpha, having presented, makes Changbin feel so much older than he really is, and certainly ages older than Hyunjin.

The rumble starts deep in his chest, and it takes him a second to realize the sound is even coming from him. Purring, soothing the boy curled up against his chest. He’s never done it before, and now - 

He lets it happen, holding onto Hyunjin until he’s quiet and still in Changbin’s arms. Changbin tugs the rubber band out of Hyunjin’s hair and runs his fingers through it, smoothing it out. Hyunjin is taller than him, but he folds up against Changbin so small.

Eventually, Hyunjin pulls back from him and looks up at Changbin. His eyes are a little red, a little puffy, and both of them are going to pretend that it didn’t happen and Hyunjin isn’t a crybaby.

“Would you feel differently if you kissed me first?” Hyunjin asks him, and Changbin wishes he could say he didn’t look at Hyunjin’s mouth when he says it. It’s bold as hell and he’s looking at Changbin, genuinely curious. Changbin doesn’t think that Hyunjin actually has a crush on him or anything, but he also knows that most of Hyunjin’s game relies on Hyunjin just being really, really attractive and that causing people to give him what he wants.

Changbin sighs. “I don’t think that’s what it is. You don’t even like me like that.”

“You don’t know,” Hyunjin says, indignant.

“Well, do you?” Changbin asks, raising an eyebrow. Hyunjin sighs.

“No,” Hyunjin admits. Changbin rolls onto his back, tugging Hyunjin with him. Hyunjin is heavy, but he settles. He’s quiet for a minute, his head on Changbin’s chest, listening to the purr.

The stupid thing is, Changbin is thinking about it. He knows that Hyunjin isn’t a virgin, so he knows some things about what he likes. But having sex and being in heat are definitely different things. It’s a lot of trust that he’s asking Changbin to be his first time. It’s a lot of responsibility to give Changbin.

“Do you think you’d suddenly like me if you kissed me?” Changbin asks. He’s not even sure if Hyunjin is still awake, they’ve been quiet for so long.

“No,” Hyunjin says, but he lifts his head and looks at Changbin. There’s a crease down the side of his face where there was a fold in Changbin’s t-shirt. “But it probably wouldn’t be bad.”

Hyunjin shifts until his face is closer to Changbin’s and -

“You just want to make out,” Changbin says.

His mouth is so close to Changbin’s and - 

“Yeah,” Hyunjin says.

Hyunjin licks his lips and - 

“And you think that’s a good idea?” Changbin asks.

Changbin can feel Hyunjin’s breath against his lips and - 

“No,” Hyunjin says.

They’re kissing.

It’s slow and easy, and Hyunjin’s mouth is pretty much as good as Changbin could have imagined. His kisses are filthy, the way he licks into Changbin’s mouth. Changbin’s hand comes to rest on Hyunjin’s lower back, the other moving to tangle up in Hyunjin’s hair.

They make out until Changbin is half-hard and Hyunjin is breathing hard against him. He pulls away and puts his head back down on Changbin’s chest. Changbin thinks about pulling him back, kissing him more, about how they could both get off if Hyunjin was willing to take it that far.

“I don’t think I’m in love with you,” Hyunjin says, once his breathing is normal again.

“Hey,” Changbin says, insulted.

“It was good,” Hyunjin says, lifting his head and looking at Changbin. His lips are so red. Changbin wants to kiss him again. “I’d do it again.”

Changbin laughs at him. He wants to say that he doesn’t want to do it again, but it was nice. Hyunjin’s a good kisser, and he can’t remember the last time he’s had another person in his bed in an intimate way, that wasn’t Jeongin just looking for some human contact. Hyunjin is heavy and warm next to him.

Eventually, Changbin gets up and turns off the light. Hyunjin stays in his bed, tucked under the covers, tucked against him. Changbin tucks his feet between Hyunjin’s calves and strokes his fingers through Hyunjin’s hair.

“What do you want?” Changbin asks, as they’re lying together in the dark. He thinks of the way Chan always asks Felix what he wants and the way Felix always says, “I want you.” He wants that with someone.

“I don’t know,” Hyunjin says. “I just don’t want to do this alone.”

Changbin kisses him again because he’s there and because he can. He pulls away just as quickly.

“Go to sleep,” Changbin tells him. Hyunjin settles, tucking his head underneath Changbin’s chin. Changbin breathes in, the scent of Hyunjin’s conditioner and a little bit of sweat, and no personal scent at all.

Changbin is almost asleep when Hyunjin speaks. “Have you ever made out with anyone else? In the group?”

Changbin hesitates before he answers. “Yeah,” he finally says. “Why?”

“I just wondered,” Hyunjin says.

“Did you think you were special?” Changbin asks, almost sarcastic. Hyunjin pulls back, but Changbin isn’t sure what his face is doing in the dark.

“Do you think you are?” Hyunjin challenges.

“Who?” Changbin asks.

“Jeongin and Jisung,” Hyunjin says. “You?”

Changbin wonders if Hyunjin tested them out, knowing that he was going to be an Omega. Two inconclusive tests, and Changbin’s his last resort out of everyone in the group. Changbin would be hurt, but he does love Hyunjin. He’s just not _in_ love with Hyunjin. Plus, he gets it, he thinks.

“Chan and Minho,” Changbin admits. He thinks about when he did it, and why he did it. He’d hooked up with Chan because they’d both been under a lot of pressure and stress, because he’d been young and unpresented and most of all _curious_. He’d made out with Minho because he’d been new-presented and so had Minho, and they’d both wanted to know if things were different, felt different. They hadn’t. Maybe they would have, if Minho hadn’t been a Beta, but…

Hyunjin puts his head back down, and he’s quiet again.

“Would you want one of them if he turned out to be an Omega?” Hyunjin asks. It feels out of left field, and it’s a big question. He doesn’t think he feels that way about Jeongin or Jisung, really. Maybe it would be like this, with Hyunjin, and he would kiss one of them, hold them close beside him in his bed, and he would feel something.

“I don’t know,” Changbin finally says. He genuinely doesn’t have an answer for it. He doesn’t know what it would be like, if the change in chemistry would spark something inside Changbin that would make him want Jeongin or Jisung. “Would you?” he asks.

Hyunjin doesn’t answer, just stays there, quiet, breathing against Changbin’s chest. Changbin thinks the non-answer is an answer itself.

**ii. seungmin**  
Compared to Felix’s presentation, Seungmin’s is entirely uneventful. In fact, the only reason they even notice it’s happened is that Hyunjin throws himself bodily into Seungmin’s one night and demands, “pet my hair,” instead of getting in his own bed.

Seungmin sighs like it’s a true imposition, but he sprawls out on his back and Hyunjin snuggles up, his head on Seungmin’s chest. He breathes in and - 

“You smell different,” he says.

“I do?” Seungmin asks.

“Yeah,” Hyunjin says. He pushes himself up on his elbows and then leans his head down, pushing his nose up against Seungmin’s neck, breathing in against Seungmin’s scent glands. It’s a wildly inappropriate thing to do - they’re not courting, Seungmin’s a Beta, and Hyunjin’s not even presented - but none of the eight of them have boundaries anymore.

Seungmin stays very still as Hyunjin’s nose presses against his skin. “Well?” he asks after a minute.

“It’s like,” Hyunjin starts, and then inhales again. It’s the exhale that sends a shiver down Seungmin’s spine, makes him bring his hands up to grab at Hyunjin, his hands on Hyunjin’s hips. “You’d normally just smell clean. But now it’s like - “

He breaks off, and if he doesn’t tell Seungmin soon, Seungmin is really going to have to kill him, because he’s not made of stone and what Hyunjin is doing right now, sprawled half on top of him, is actually super fucking intimate.

“That’s kind of how Betas smell, isn’t it?” Seungmin asks.

“But you don’t smell like Minho smells,” Hyunjin says, and he pulls back, looking down at Seungmin. He’s very pretty and Seungmin can’t let that distract him from the fact that Hyunjin has apparently been scenting Minho and Seungmin wants to talk about that.

“Why are you scenting Minho?” Seungmin asks. “You know he’s a Beta.”

“So?” Hyunjin says. “He smells nice. You do too, except you’re an asshole.”

“Get out of my bed,” Seungmin says.

“No,” Hyunjin says, and shifts more of his body onto Seungmin. He’s heavy. He never lets them forget that he’s the tallest of all of them, but what Seungmin does forget is that when Hyunjin wants to, he can be incredibly heavy. He just flops down on Seungmin and goes totally limp, and Seungmin feels like he’s being crushed.

“Then tell me what my scent is like,” Seungmin says. This is the wrong thing to say, because this results in Hyunjin pressing his nose back against Seungmin’s scent gland and fuck sake, does he know what this is doing to Seungmin? He may be a Beta, but it’s still _scenting_ and if Hyunjin keeps doing it, he can’t be responsible for what his dick is going to do.

“You know when it’s a nice, sunny day,” Hyunjin says, his voice rumbling through Seungmin’s skin and into his ear. “And you’re digging your hands through dirt in the back yard and planting flowers.”

“I smell like dirt?” Seungmin asks, bewildered and a little offended.

“In a good way,” Hyunjin says. “Earthy and warm and - comforting? It’s nice. I like it.”

He doesn’t pull away, and Seungmin really wishes he would. He’s not going to ask him to do it, obviously, because he’s not an idiot - he’s young, he’s horny, and he has to admit that as annoying as Hyunjin is, he’s pretty fucking hot. Besides, they’re not going to hook up - Minho could walk into the room literally any second.

“I’m glad you like it,” Seungmin manages to say, and his voice mostly sounds normal.

Hyunjin stays where he is, and it shouldn’t be surprising when Seungmin feels Hyunjin’s lips on his neck, but he still is. Fuck - they shouldn’t - he’s a Beta, and when it happens, Hyunjin’s going to be an Omega, and even if they were madly in love it wouldn’t work because Hyunjin is always going to need something Seungmin can’t give him.

Seungmin can’t give Hyunjin a knot. He can let Hyunjin kiss his neck. He can let Hyunjin breathe in, scent him because it’s safe and nothing will happen to him. Because the only thing Seungmin is going to do is kiss him back, slide his hands into Hyunjin’s hair and let it happen.

Making out with Hyunjin is not particularly something Seungmin thinks he needs to do. It’s not like it’s something everyone else in the group hasn’t already done, Seungmin’s pretty sure. He’s just last on the list and he tries not to think of it as a conquest because he doesn’t think that Hyunjin is that kind of person.

Ah, shit, he’s definitely slipping his hands underneath Hyunjin’s shirt, and his skin is soft, and he reacts so sweetly when Seungmin touches him, and - 

“Oh fuck _off_.”

And that’ll be Minho, seeing them making out on Seungmin’s bed as he comes in, because it’s his bedroom too, and banging the door back shut.

Hyunjin presses his face into Seungmin’s chest and giggles. Seungmin closes his eyes and sighs.

“I guess I have an announcement to make,” he says.

“I guess,” Hyunjin says, and he nuzzles against Seungmin one more time before pulling away.

“Hey,” Seungmin says, as Hyunjin gets out of his bed.

“Yeah?” Hyunjin asks, straightening his t-shirt and running his fingers through his hair.

“Are you okay?” Seungmin asks. He doesn’t think Hyunjin would be climbing into his bed and making out with him under normal circumstances. Making Seungmin pet his hair, yes, but not making out with him.

Hyunjin flashes him a smile that’s definitely fake. “I’m fine,” Hyunjin says, and sweeps out of the room.

**iii. chan**  
Chan is already an Alpha by the time Stray Kids debut.

They knew he would be, of course. They’d let him put together a group, they’d let him become the leader, they let him create his own pack. He thinks they knew, when he was deciding who would be in the group - and when they made the decisions of who would and wouldn’t be in the group - that there would be some mingling.

Chan is too busy for mingling, actually.

And it sucks, because he’s the only one in the group with any kind of presentation, so there’s this little itch - not physically, but at the back of his mind there’s the feeling that he’s wasting himself, that he has a knot and he’s supposed to be using it. He’s been told this is normal for new Alphas. It’s still annoying.

Some of the guys are away for the weekend, gone to see their parents before they hit the real crunch of their debut. He’s been sitting alone for hours, tucked into a corner of his bunk, laptop open on his lap, notebook next to his knee, headphones on.

He doesn’t notice he isn’t alone until Hyunjin is actually slinking into his bed. Hyunjin carefully moves Chan’s notebook out of the way and slides in until he can rest his head on Chan’s hip. Chan reaches down and runs his fingers through Hyunjin’s hair.

They stay that way for a while, Hyunjin silent as Chan works. Finally, when Chan feels, if not done, at least satisfied for the moment, he slides his headphones down around his neck.

“What’s up?” he asks. “I thought you’d gone home?”

“Everything’s weird,” Hyunjin says.

Chan closes his laptop and takes off his headphones and puts everything to the side. ‘Everything’s weird’ isn’t the ideal answer he wants to hear from one of his group mates. He’s glad that Hyunjin feels comfortable enough to come in and say it _to_ him, but that doesn’t mean that he likes it.

“What do you need from me?” Chan asks him. He doesn’t know. This is the first time he’s ever been the leader of an idol group. Of his own pack. It’s so weird to think of it that way - of this small collection of future Alphas, Betas, and Omegas that are his.

“I don’t know,” Hyunjin says. No, he wails. And that’s - that’s so Hyunjin that Chan has to stop himself from smiling at it. Chan shifts and stretches out next to him, cuddling Hyunjin up against him, holding him tight and hoping that Hyunjin doesn’t break apart completely.

“Hey,” Chan says. “Is this about debut?”

“You know they only scouted me because I’m pretty, right?” Hyunjin blurts out.

And there it is. That’s the whole problem, isn’t it? Chan knows they’re being underestimated. But he also knows they can do this. He knows that they’re good, he knows that they work hard. He also knows that Hyunjin works so hard to be more than just pretty, even though that’s how he got here.

“Who cares?” Chan asks him. “You’ve already proven you’re more than just a face. You wouldn’t be right here right now if you were just cute.”

“Okay first of all,” Hyunjin says, sniffles, and looks up at Chan. “We both know I’m way more than cute.”

“Oh, okay,” Chan says, and laughs. “You’re very beautiful. And talented.”

“Thank you,” Hyunjin says. Chan hugs him tightly.

“Did you just need someone to tell you you were pretty and pet your hair?” Chan asks him.

“I don’t know,” Hyunjin whines at him. Chan strokes his fingers through Hyunjin’s hair and he settles again, quiet. Then he says, “is it weird? Being an Alpha?”

“What do you mean?” Chan asks. He can’t imagine what Hyunjin could really want or need to know about being an Alpha. Hyunjin’s testing was conclusive, and it’s not like he really needed it to know he was going to be an Omega in the first place.

“What does it feel like?” Hyunjin says. Chan guesses he can understand wanting to know, because it’s something Hyunjin won’t ever experience.

“Which part?” Chan asks. “Being an Alpha, or presenting?”

“Both, I guess?” 

Chan twists a lock of Hyunjin’s hair around his finger as he thinks about it. He knows that being an Alpha is wildly different from being an Omega, and the presentation is different, because there’s no immediately going into heat, and ruts are so much fewer than farther between than a heat. Chan’s never had one.

“I don’t know,” Chan finally says, after thinking about it for a few moments. “It’s weird being acutely aware of every Omega near me. Like, especially if they’re near heat? It’s really bizarre.”

“So you like. Do you know if me or Felix are around?” Hyunjin asks.

“No,” Chan says. “But you don’t smell like anything yet. I’m sure that I would if you had presented.”

“Did presenting hurt?” Hyunjin asks. Chan remembers then, that it’s painful for Omegas. They’re physically ill, their bodies changing, and then they go into heat.

“Not really,” Chan says. “It just kind of happens, and that’s it. It’s annoying. I had a headache for a few days because of all of the smells - being able to suddenly distinguish so many different things and it just killed. But I got used to it.”

Hyunjin sighs, and then he’s quiet again. “Does having a knot hurt?”

That’s certainly a startling thing for him to ask. Chan just stares at him for a second. “I feel like that’s personal?” Chan finally manages to stutter out.

“All of this is personal, technically,” Hyunjin says. “I’ll tell you something if you tell me.”

Chan sighs. “I don’t know,” he says. “I haven’t. Had one. Done it. Used it?” Why does he feel like he’s blushing? Is he blushing?

“You’re not a virgin?” Hyunjin asks. “That’s stupid.”

“No,” Chan says. “I just haven’t ever with an Omega.”

“Do you want to?” Hyunjin asks, his voice barely a whisper now.

“I mean, yeah,” Chan says. “Obviously.”

“I’m an Omega,” Hyunjin says. It comes out pretty confident and Chan is almost proud of Hyunjin for that. The thing is, Hyunjin is only an Omega in the most technical sense. So Chan isn’t even sure that he could pop a knot with Hyunjin right now, and that it wouldn’t hurt Hyunjin if he did.

“Are you saying you want to have sex with me?” Chan asks, just to check. Just to make sure that Hyunjin is actually asking what he’s asking.

“I want to see what it’s like,” Hyunjin says. “Before.” He’s blushing, his cheeks and ears red. Chan’s chest aches with how much he genuinely cares for this idiot lying next to him on the bed.

“Before you present?” Chan asks.

“Yeah,” Hyunjin says. “Plus, I’ve - I’ve never and. I can’t just. Go out and pick up some weirdo, and you’re. You know.”

“If you’re sure,” Chan says. Hyunjin’s breath catches, and he looks surprised that Chan’s just said yes.

“I’m sure.”

“Okay.”

Chan’s hand is still in Hyunjin’s hair, so he just waits for Hyunjin to make a move. Except this isn’t - Chan is pretty sure this isn’t normal, and it seems like Hyunjin maybe isn’t sure what to do now that Chan has said yes. Like he didn’t expect Chan to say yes.

He licks his lips. Chan watches him, because Hyunjin’s lips are worth watching. Then he leans in and kisses Chan, very soft, very sweet. They kiss for a while, stretched out next to each other on Chan’s bed, until Hyunjin stops being so tentative and starts looking for more.

Even though he’s the Alpha, Chan lets Hyunjin drive. Chan lets him decide what he wants, because it’s Hyunjin’s first time. He knows that they need to move at whatever pace makes Hyunjin comfortable, even though Chan’s instinct is to push him onto his back and take him. There’s some part of Chan that knows, deep down, that this is an Omega in his bed, even if Hyunjin is an unpresented one.

Chan doesn’t know how many of them have actually hooked up in the dorm, or how many of them even get the chance to hook up, but Chan has a stash of condoms even for the infrequent opportunities he gets. He has lube, too, which comes in handy when he figures out that unpresented Omegas aren’t slick.

“Obviously,” Hyunjin tells him, smiling. He’s on his back on Chan’s bed, his hair a dark halo around his head as he looks up at Chan. “What, you think I’m just randomly getting wet every time I get a boner?” He sticks his tongue out, then catches it between his teeth.

Oh, Chan is going to fuck him so hard.

**iv. hyunjin**  
He feels like shit.

It’s happening, and Hyunjin knows it. He’s done the classes, he’s done the reading, the research, whatever. First it’s the nausea, low level, nothing he can really do anything about except drink tea. Then the sensitivity to smell comes, giving him a constant headache that doesn’t go away no matter how much acetaminophen he takes.

Four days in, the ache comes and he has to resign himself to telling someone. They’ve just gotten back to the dorm from a photoshoot and he tries to find Changbin so that he can just _warn_ him. He feels like he’s going to throw up and he’s not sure what part of it is truly becoming an Omega and what part of it is the nerves from having to tell someone this is happening to him.

He physically bumps into Jisung in the hallway as he leaves his room to go to Changbin’s and - fuck, that’s his luck, isn’t it? For Jisung to be right there, the absolute cutest person in the world and the one that Hyunjin wants and can’t fucking have, right as he’s going to tell Changbin that he’s going into his first heat.

“Are you okay?” Jisung asks him and Hyunjin realizes he must look deranged. He’s even a little sweaty.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just - I need to ask Changbin-hyung something really quick,” Hyunjin says, and flashes what he’s 90% sure is not a winning smile as much as it is a grimace. He’s a mess. He’s going to be a mess for a few days. Several days. However many days.

“You don’t look okay,” Jisung says, a skeptic, and he’s probably right. It’s great timing for him to just now notice that Hyunjin looks like shit, because he’s looked like shit for at least two days and he’s felt like shit for even longer.

“Jisung-ah,” he says, and he makes it sing-song so that it sounds even better, if not more normal. “I’ll be fine. Promise. Do you know where Changbin is?”

“His room, I think?” Jisung says.

“Thanks baby,” Hyunjin says, and smiles at him for real this time, even though he feels like he wants to throw up. That’s probably just his heat coming on, and not at all that he’s in love with Jisung and it’s all useless because of Jisung’s stupid inconclusive status.

He turns to leave and he wishes they knew what Jisung was going to be. If he’s a Beta or an Omega, then Hyunjin wishes he knew, so he could crush every single feeling that he has for Jisung, force himself to care about someone else. But if Jisung were an Alpha…

Hyunjin can’t even let himself think about it. It’s too much - he wants it too much. It’s what he didn’t tell Changbin about. And sure, he’s made out with both Jeongin and Jisung, but they’re not the only ones. Chan’s the first guy he ever had sex with, and he’s made out with Felix more times than he can even count, just because they could.

Jisung’s the only one he has feelings for.

It’s fucking stupid and he leaves Jisung in the hall and goes into Changbin’s room. Felix and Chan are also in there and that’s just - that’s fucking great, isn’t it. At least they’re not cuddled up on Chan’s bed or something, being gross and cute and bonded or paired or mated or whatever the fuck they are, Hyunjin doesn’t know.

“Changbin-ah,” he says. And Changbin looks up at him. He watches Changbin’s nostrils flare and he realizes that, oh, he must smell now, and Jisung didn’t know because he hasn’t presented yet. But Changbin knows, which means that Felix and Chan also know.

“Oh shit,” Chan says, and it pops right out in English, which makes Felix start giggling.

“It’s nice!” Felix says. “You smell nice, Hyunjin.”

“Fuck you,” Hyunjin says. “I don’t have time for this.”

“You do smell nice,” Changbin says, and it’s so soothing. He’s working some kind of stupid Alpha magic on Hyunjin and Hyunjin doesn’t _want_ that. Hyunjin wants Jisung and he’s getting Changbin and he’s really getting fucked over by life right now.

Nothing against Changbin. Hyunjin likes Changbin. Hyunjin is not in love with Changbin.

“You remember how when Felix presented I said that I wished he’d told me,” Chan says, sitting up and grabbing his phone. “Like, you know how you’re supposed to let us know when you don’t feel well instead of just working through it - “

“I am letting you know,” Hyunjin says. He gestures to himself. “Here I am, right here, letting you know right now.”

“So you’re saying you’ve just now started feeling ill,” Chan says. Hyunjin is looking at Changbin, who is smirking at him.

“No, but I’m saying that it has been building, and now it’s happening, and I - “ He stops, and sighs, trying to gather his thoughts. Now he understands what Changbin meant by scents being so strong, of being more aware of them. He could smell them before, if he put his nose right up against someone’s scent gland. But now he’s standing in the doorway and he can smell all of them - Chan’s cinnamon and clove that he’s run to for comfort so many times; the new scent that clings to Felix, bright, sweet peppermint; the deep wood-smoke scent of Changbin that tries to make him think Changbin is sexy and not actually a huge dork.

“I’m going to call management,” Chan says with a sigh. “And then I’m going to go and talk to Jeongin and Jisung and I guess get on my knees and beg them to tell me if they start feeling badly because just asking nicely apparently doesn’t work.”

“Changbin’s going with me,” Hyunjin says.

“What?” Felix yelps and Chan drops his phone on the floor. Hyunjin hadn’t told anyone the plan, and from Felix and Chan’s reactions, neither had Changbin. And that’s - Hyunjin’s not sure how he feels about that. He kind of expected Changbin to tell them, and now he’s not sure if that means that Changbin is embarrassed by it or he just thought it was sexier to keep it a secret.

Hyunjin feels a little dizzy and he thinks that probably none of this is going to be remotely sexy. He certainly doesn’t feel sexy.

They have him pack up, clothes and toiletries, and he wishes Changbin would hold his hand in the van on the way to - wherever they take him. It’s a hotel, but not quite - a regular hotel would be a bad plan for an Omega in heat, so this is a hotel specially catering to heats that can’t be spent at home for whatever reason. Hyunjin wonders if there are a lot of people in his position. He wonders how many idols places like this see. He wonders if this is where they brought Chan and Felix.

He leans against the wall in the elevator and closes his eyes. He wonders if Felix felt this shitty right before it happened. If he felt excited to be coming here with Chan.

Mostly, Hyunjin feels like he’s going to throw up.

The room they let them into is sterile, white, and cold. Not just aesthetically cold, but chilled enough that it gives Hyunjin goosebumps. He guesses that it’s because his body temperature is going to go up, and it will feel more comfortable then, but now it just makes him feel cold.

Changbin puts his bag down and comes over to where Hyunjin has flopped down on the bed, stretched out, and thrown his arm across his face.

“How do you feel?” he asks. Hyunjin can smell that Changbin is nervous, a bitter note in his scent that makes Hyunjin feel like he’s going to sneeze. Except he never quite sneezes, so it’s just really irritating.

“Like I’m going to throw up,” Hyunjin says. He moves his arm so that he can peek out at Changbin, who is looking at him, concerned. “I thought I was supposed to want to fuck. Uncontrollably.”

Changbin makes a face at him. “I’m sure you’ll get there.”

“I’d almost be glad at this point. I’ve felt like throwing up for like, four days. Maybe I’m actually sick and not going into heat at all,” Hyunjin says.

“You are,” Changbin says, and stretches out next to him. Hyunjin lowers his arm from his face, moving his hand until he’s playing with Changbin’s hair. It’s a weird reversal. Usually he’s the one making everyone play with his hair.

“You don’t know,” Hyunjin says.

“I do know,” Changbin says. “Ask me how.”

“How,” Hyunjin asks.

Changbin rolls closer to Hyunjin, and in the chill of their room, he’s almost hot where his body touches Hyunjin’s.

“You have a scent now,” Changbin says. “If you were just sick, you wouldn’t. You smell like an Omega now.”

“Oh,” Hyunjin says. He hates the way his voice comes out small and scared when he speaks again. “Do you like it?”

“Hyunjin-ah,” Changbin says, and he sounds sad. “Why are you so scared?”

“I don’t want this,” Hyunjin says.

Changbin looks surprised. “Do you want me to leave?” he asks.

“No, not - it’s not you. It’s this. It’s. It’s being an Omega. I don’t want - I don’t want to feel like this.” He’s been sick for days and now he’s starting to ache, low in his guts, in a way that makes him want to curl up in the fetal position and not move for the rest of his life. Soon. Soon he’s going to be begging for a knot.

“I can’t make it stop,” Changbin says. “I can only make it easier.”

Hyunjin takes a deep breath and sighs. He knew this was going to happen. This was always going to happen. There was never a doubt, even from when he was younger, that he’d be an Omega. He never had a chance to entertain the idea that he’d be something else. And now here he is, in the moment where he has to embrace it because it’s happening, and there’s no chance it could ever be anything else.

“It’s starting to hurt,” he tells Changbin.

“What do you need me to do right now?” Changbin asks him.

“I guess just - let’s.” Hyunjin sighs and leans forward, pressing his lips against Changbin’s. Changbin doesn’t move for a moment, and then they’re kissing, Changbin tugging Hyunjin close, sliding his hands underneath Hyunjin’s shirt, reaching for bare skin.

It’s the hands on his skin, maybe, that make Hyunjin let go and fall into it. The reason he wanted the Alpha here with him to be someone he knows - so he could let go and give in to this instinct, let this happen and know that he’s safe. He’s standing on the precipice of true adulthood and all he has to do is let go.

The heat is building inside of him, and eventually it just gets to the point where it just blanks out everything else in his brain. The only thing left is the ache inside him and the knowledge that Changbin can make it stop.

“Please,” Hyunjin whispers to him. “It’s now.”

Hyunjin only remembers things in bits and pieces after that. Changbin stripping him out of his clothes, pressing him down on his back. Changbin’s mouth on his neck, kissing him, scenting him. He remembers what it’s like feeling wet for the first time, not needing to be fingered.

He vividly remembers the first knot - the way it hurts, the way it feels like his body can’t take it, that this isn’t right and it’s not supposed to be happening. He takes it anyway, muffling a sob into Changbin’s shoulder. Changbin just holds him tighter and Hyunjin tries to remember to keep breathing.

He doesn’t remember the second knot. Or the third. Or the fourth.

It’s supposed to stop. He knows it’s supposed to stop, that it’s supposed to be easier when there’s an Alpha, the heat is supposed to break faster, but Changbin keeps knotting him and knotting him and he just keeps feeling empty.

It’s not supposed to be like this. It’s supposed to break. He’s supposed to be done. He’s got shit to do and it won’t _stop_ and suddenly he’s sitting in the middle of the bed in Changbin’s lap, crying while Changbin rubs his back, both of them covered in sweat and come and slick. Changbin tries to run his fingers through Hyunjin’s hair soothingly and they get _stuck_ and suddenly Hyunjin is both sobbing and laughing all at once.

“Do you think you have time for a shower?” Changbin asks him. “Do you think a shower would make you feel better?”

“I think not being in heat anymore would make me feel better,” Hyunjin says.

“Listen,” Changbin says. “I would love for you to not be in heat anymore. I think my dick is going to fall off. But barring that, would having a shower right now make you feel better?”

“It would be worth a try,” Hyunjin says.

In the end, it takes a full four days for Hyunjin’s heat to break. Hyunjin knows that isn’t normal. With an Alpha, it should’ve been, like, two days, and this was - this was not that. He’s exhausted. His whole body hurts. He wants to go home and sleep. But he can’t do that. He has to get back to work.

He steals Changbin’s hoodie and snuggles up against him on the way back to the dorm. Changbin looks tired too. Hyunjin makes Changbin hold his hand, because he’s tired and sad and they’ve been through something together.

Changbin doesn’t say anything, just squeezes his hand.

**v. minho**  
Being so much more aware of how everything smells all the time is giving Minho a headache. Chan tells him that it stops being so overwhelming, but it’s been weeks and it’s still driving Minho crazy. And the thing is, scent is kind of meaningless to a Beta. It doesn’t help him determine who is compatible with him. Yeah, he knows if a nearby Omega is in heat, but he doesn’t have a knot, so that’s pretty meaningless as far as knowing things go.

They’re out, but mostly Minho wants to go home. He can smell everything too much, natural scents and artificial ones. He used to think perfume was nice, but now he’s reconsidering.

Chan is dancing with Changbin, which is something Minho is not prepared to address, or even admit that he’s seen with his eyes, because they are a mess and - nope, wiping that one from the brain. Jeongin and Seungmin had gone home to their families for the weekend, and Felix and Jisung had - had they disappeared? They’re small, it wouldn’t take much for them to get swallowed up in the crowd.

There’s an Alpha hitting on Hyunjin at the bar.

And like, Minho is kind of watching because Hyunjin has a very dead-eyed look on his face while the guy is talking to him, playing with the straw in his drink. Minho supposes that there’s a universe where that might look like Hyunjin is listening with rapt attention. Where it’s coy instead of dead inside.

Minho knows Hyunjin better than that.

He’s too far away to hear what’s being said, but he can see Hyunjin’s eyebrows starting to knit together even through the fringe across his forehead, so - not great. Minho sighs, finishes his drink, and goes to bail Hyunjin out.

“Okay,” he hears Hyunjin saying, his voice very flat. “I’m not interested.”

The guy is an Alpha, and Minho would know it even if he couldn’t smell it on him. But the thing is, Hyunjin isn’t really an Omega, not yet, even though they know he will be. Even though he’s so pretty, and that’s why this Alpha has picked him out from everyone at the bar. It’s why none of them leave Hyunjin or Felix alone in bars. Buddy system only.

“I think you’d enjoy it,” the Alpha is saying.

“I wouldn’t,” Hyunjin says, and drops his glass on the bar and turns to Minho. “Hi. Do you want to leave?”

“What do you need with a Beta? You need a real man.” Minho grimaces and he watches as Hyunjin’s mouth twists up in irritation.

“For what?” Hyunjin asks. Minho doesn’t think that he doesn’t know. He’s playing stupid right now. Pretty, and young, and stupid. The way Alphas think he is.

“To breed you,” the Alpha says.

“You know there’s a registry for Alphas who like to breed pre-presentation Omegas,” Hyunjin says, his voice calm. Minho flinches - the words come out like it’s not the first time Hyunjin has said them, and Minho doesn’t want to think about that too hard.

“You little - “ the Alpha starts, reaching out for Hyunjin’s arm. Hyunjin is bold enough to slap the Alpha’s hand away from him. Omegas don’t do that. Hyunjin does that. He’s young, he’s unpresented, and he’s beautiful. They’re going to be world famous idols. Fuck this Alpha.

“I said no,” Hyunjin says. “Let’s go.”

His hand is sweaty when he grabs hold of Minho’s, and they walk away from the bar together. Hyunjin is holding on just a little too tight - like everything he’s just said and done has been putting on a front. He’s actually shaking.

They find a place away from the bar, away from the dance floor that’s quieter, that has more air. Hyunjin slumps back against the wall and runs his hands through his hair.

“Are you okay?” Minho asks. “Does that - does that happen a lot?”

“More than I’d like,” Hyunjin says. “More than it should. You’d be surprised how many gross dudes are just having around places looking for Omegas. They don’t care if we’re presented or not. Better if we’re not, because then I guess we can’t understand how really gross they are.”

“But you can,” Minho says.

“Yeah,” Hyunjin says.

Minho has a headache and he wants to go home and Hyunjin smells so distressed. “I’ll take you home,” he finally says. “I’ll text Chan and you and I can just - “

“You don’t have to leave,” Hyunjin says. “I can get myself home.”

“Hyunjin-ah,” Minho says. “Let me tell you a little secret. Once you’ve presented all you can do is smell _everything_. And it’s miserable. So we’re at a club right now and you know what this is like for me?”

It makes Hyunjin laugh, at least, and he doesn’t look like he’s on the verge of tears anymore. Minho texts Changbin and gets them a car back to the dorm. They take turns showering and Minho thinks that Hyunjin is already asleep when he comes back from the bathroom. No one else is back yet, and he climbs into bed.

Hyunjin is not, it turns out, asleep.

“Minho-hyung,” Hyunjin says, his voice coming out of the dark and quiet of the dorm room.

“Yeah?” Minho asks.

“Are people weird to you about being a Beta?” Hyunjin asks. There’s a bunch of moving and rustling and then there’s a weight on the side of Minho’s bed that he recognizes as Hyunjin climbing into bed with him. There’s part of Minho that wants to tell him to go back to his own bed, but Hyunjin is also big and warm and smells clean, which Minho really appreciates right at this moment.

“Not like they are about being an Omega, apparently,” Minho says, and he and Hyunjin shift around, until they’re pressed face to face, Hyunjin’s nose only centimeters from Minho’s.

Hyunjin is whispering. “Do you ever wish you were something else?”

Minho thinks about it. He’s wondered idly what it would be like if he were an Alpha, but he doesn’t feel like it would make that much difference in his life. He’d have a knot, okay. Even without one he could still be with an Omega, if the Omega wanted him. They could even still have kids. He could be with other Betas. Being an Alpha would just be an added layer of stress that he doesn’t need.

He wouldn’t choose to be an Omega.

“No,” he finally tells Hyunjin. Hyunjin sighs, and Minho feels the breath ghost across his lips. “No, I wouldn’t want to be something else.”

“But you’ve thought about it?” Hyunjin’s voice is a whisper, like there’s anyone there to hear them.

“I’ve thought about what it would be like to be an Alpha,” Minho says. It’s the wrong thing to say and he knows as soon as it’s out of his mouth.

“But not an Omega,” Hyunjin says. And again, he smells distressed, and this time a little angry. Minho really hates being able to smell everything. “Why’s that, hyung? Why don’t you want to be an Omega? Don’t you think it’s great?”

“Hyunjin-ah,” Minho says.

“You don’t want everyone to expect you to just be wet and ready to get bred?” Hyunjin is angry and - that’s okay, actually, because Minho doesn’t blame him. He doesn’t know what the guy in the bar said to Hyunjin before Minho walked up, or what other Alphas in other places have said to Hyunjin that have led to this point.

“No,” Minho says, and that’s the truth. “And I don’t expect that of you, either.”

“Well, you’d be the first,” Hyunjin snaps, and then suddenly he’s quiet, and then there’s a shuddering breath and Minho thinks, oh God, he’s crying - but then he says, “I’m sorry. I just. That’s not all I am, you know?”

“I know,” Minho says. “I’m here with you every day. I see you dance, and sing, and rap, and I - Hyunjin-ah, I know.”

“I hate it,” Hyunjin says.

“I know,” Minho says. They both go quiet, and Minho rubs circles on Hyunjin’s back with his thumbs.

“What if I kissed you?” Hyunjin says. It’s dark and Minho can’t see him and that’s a little out of left field but - well, Hyunjin wouldn’t be the first one in the group Minho has made out with. He might be the angriest. 

“Will it make you feel better?” Minho asks him.

“I don’t know,” Hyunjin says. “Maybe.”

“Why?” Minho asks.

“Because you don’t expect anything from me,” Hyunjin says.

“I expect a lot of things from you, actually,” Minho says.

“Okay, but they’re normal things to expect from people,” Hyunjin says. “Like. Friendship. And working hard and. Not. Sex things.”

“No,” Minho says. “I don’t expect sex things from you.”

“Thanks,” Hyunjin says, and laughs, and it sounds a little hysterical, like the tiniest nudge could send him over the edge into tears.

Minho kisses him, soft, then pulls back. They can’t really see each other in the dark of the dorm room. “It’s going to be okay,” he says. “You’re going to be okay.”

“Yeah,” Hyunjin says. His voice sounds a little weird, but Minho isn’t going to push. “Yeah.”

Hyunjin kisses him then and it’s not soft at all. So many things about Hyunjin are soft, Minho thinks, but not this. Whatever he’s doing with his tongue in Minho’s mouth, that’s not soft at all. Hyunjin kisses like he wants something, and like he knows he can get whatever he wants.

It’s - intense, to say the least. Hyunjin being intense is not a surprise. Minho has seen him work. Minho knows about his whole thing - that he was scouted for the way he looks, but that he doesn’t want to just be a face. And… suddenly so many things make sense to Minho.

That’s why Hyunjin is so pissed off about being an Omega. Because all that boils down to is being the prettiest face with the most fertile body. And that’s against everything Hyunjin is trying to be. He’s worked so hard to be more than just a face for JYP, and now he’s out being reduced to just his body - not his talent, or what he can do with it, either, but his fertility.

Hyunjin’s hands are underneath Minho’s shirt and they’re warm, and this is definitely going on the list of the top five dumbest things Minho has ever done in the dorm. And Hyunjin’s not even the only member of the group he’s hooked up with. Hyunjin’s just the only one he’s done it with when people are definitely going to walk in.

Minho is more than halfway to getting off, Hyunjin’s thigh pressed between his and Hyunjin breathing hard as they make out, when he hears voices in the hall. And fuck, yeah, he doesn’t want to stop but they’re never going to live it down if anyone walks in right now. Maybe if it’s Chan and Changbin. It doesn’t sound like Chan and Changbin.

What it sounds like is Felix and Seungmin coming down the hall, talking loudly until they realize the light is off, and Hyunjin tugs the blanket up around them quickly.

“Fuck,” he whispers, because if they turn on the lights, it doesn’t matter how hard Minho and Hyunjin pretend to be asleep, Felix and Seungmin are going to know exactly what was going on.

“Just be quiet,” Hyunjin whispers. He probably hopes they’ll think he and Minho are asleep. They probably won’t.

“Hey, shh,” Felix says. “They’re asleep.”

“Apparently Minho texted Chan and let him know they were leaving because some Alpha was being a shit to Hyunjin,” Seungmin says.

“Oh, so like usual,” Felix says. “They’re so - ugh. And they say some shitty things to me, but they say some really depraved shit to Hyunjin, so I don’t blame him for just - “

“Stop talking about me and let me sleep,” Hyunjin says.

And then, because now he knows that Minho and Hyunjin aren’t asleep, Seungmin turns on the light.

It takes Felix about 30 seconds to figure out exactly what’s going on in Minho’s bed. He points, and he yells, “YOU.”

Seungmin is confused for a split second, until Hyunjin drags Minho’s blanket over his head to hide from everything. Then Seungmin also knows what’s going on.

“Were you _fucking_?” Felix demands. “Do you have _clothes on_ under there?”

“Were you fucking _in the dorm_?” Seungmin adds, and he sounds entirely too gleeful.

Minho definitely doesn’t have a boner now. Hyunjin kind of does, which is interesting to know that it takes a little more to kill it for him.

“We were not _fucking in the dorm_ ,” Hyunjin says. “People can make out, Felix!”

“Even if we were we wouldn’t be the first ones,” Minho says.

“Even if we were it wouldn’t be the first time for _me_ ,” Hyunjin says, and sounds _very_ pleased with himself. Felix shrieks and grabs Seungmin.

“They’re depraved,” he yells. Seungmin is cackling.

“Stop _screaming_ ,” Minho says. “Fuck’s sake. Turn the light back off.”

“Why, so you can go back to whatever you were doing before?” Seungmin asks.

“If you don’t mind,” Hyunjin says. His thigh is still pressed between Minho’s, which is interesting, to say the least.

“Don’t make out with other people in the room, that’s a dorm rule,” Felix says, and throws himself into his bed. Seungmin turns the light back off.

“Why don’t the two of you make out and leave us alone? Then no one is breaking any rules,” Hyunjin suggests.

“Oooh,” Felix says. “Seungmin-ah. You wanna make out?”

“Shut up, Felix,” Seungmin says.

Hyunjin muffles his giggles against Minho’s mouth, even though making out with other people in the room is against the rules.

**vi. jeongin**  
One sentence brings the entire practice to a stop.

“I don’t feel well.”

That’s all it takes. They’ve spent all their time handling Hyunjin and Felix that no one cast a thought to what was going to happen - if anything was going to happen - with Jeongin and Jisung.

“I can’t believe someone here is capable of mentioning that they don’t feel well,” Chan says. He’s standing near Jeongin, but not too close. Felix notices that Chan keeps Felix between him and Jeongin, so Felix is pretty sure that Chan knows what Jeongin is saying when he says he doesn’t feel well.

Hyunjin swallows half his bottle of water and looks at Jeongin, calculating. “Yeah?” he asks. “Like what? You’re coming down with a cold?” Felix is pretty sure that Hyunjin also knows what Jeongin is saying, but Hyunjin’s experience being an Omega so far has seemed pretty fucking harrowing, so Felix kind of doesn’t blame him for checking.

“You wish it was a cold,” Jeongin says, and grins at Hyunjin, saucy. Hyunjin stares at him, and somewhere behind him he hears Changbin sigh. Hyunjin being an Omega has also not been a good time for Changbin, so Felix guesses that jokes about it are not fun for either of them.

“So,” Felix says, trying to play peacemaker before Hyunjin gets legitimately pissed off. “Nausea, everything smells too much, gives you a headache?”

“Yes,” Jeongin says.

Felix smiles at him. “Now you’re all grown up.” He throws his arms around Jeongin and hugs him. Hyunjin makes a disgusted noise.

“Is this new? Do you have time?” Hyunjin asks. He and Felix both lean in at the same time, sniffing at Jeongin from either side, which makes him slap at them. Felix laughs again.

“He’s got a little bit of time,” Felix says.

“Still doesn’t smell like anything,” Hyunjin says.

“This is intensely weird,” Jisung says, and oh. Felix hadn’t even thought about - well, Jisung is older than Jeongin, and Jeongin is presenting first. Maybe Jisung really is going to be a Beta. 

Minho snakes an arm around Jisung’s waist. “Don’t worry,” he says. “Maybe you can be normal, like me and Seungmin. And not a fucking weirdo.”

“You’re just jealous,” Hyunjin says. Absolutely none of them are jealous of the experience Hyunjin is having. He’s had two heats, and they’ve both been absolutely miserable for him. Felix shares a room with Chan and Changbin, and he’s heard them talking. Felix doesn’t know why it’s been easy for Chan to break him but Hyunjin has been impossible for Changbin. It doesn’t make any sense.

“Can we work until like - “ Jeongin makes a face. “I have to go?”

“Okay, but if you feel like shit and want to sit down, let us know?” Chan says, and that’s that.

Felix thinks it’s crazy that Jeongin leaves alone. He doesn’t have an Alpha, and there’s not an available one in the group, even though Felix watches Hyunjin and Changbin have a whispered conversation that they think no one else notices that Felix thinks the result of is probably Hyunjin just telling Changbin to go.

Jeongin leaves alone anyway.

The thing is, Felix doesn’t mean to overhear the conversation. Jisung has his room to himself with Jeongin gone, but it’s Minho’s voice Felix hears first.

“I’m sure that it doesn’t mean anything,” Minho says.

“I just need to know,” Jisung says. “I can’t - I know that it’s such a slim chance that I’ll even be - “

Jisung’s voice drops low enough that Felix can’t hear. Then, Minho says, “but what if you talked to him? Because if he has feelings for you, too, then there has to be some way you can make things work out?”

“Not if I’m a Beta. Or an Omega,” Jisung says. He sounds irritated.

“Listen,” Minho says. “This is all kind of weird. Us being a pack, being an idol group, whatever, it’s all weird. So why not just. Tell him. Maybe it’ll work out. Or maybe you don’t have to be an Alpha and it will be fine.”

“He thinks he has to have an Alpha,” Jisung says. “That’s the problem.”

Felix leaves, because he can’t listen to them talking about this. Because he knows exactly what they’re talking about. Because there’s only one of them who thinks that he has to have an Alpha to survive, and that’s Hyunjin.

Jisung has a thing for Hyunjin. Jisung has a thing for Hyunjin? Felix sprints as quietly as he can into his room, closing the door behind him. And then he realizes that he absolutely can’t say anything because Changbin is laying on his bed, reading. And he probably shouldn’t tell Chan what he’s just learned in front of Changbin.

He probably shouldn’t gossip at all, except, well, he and Hyunjin talk a lot. They’re the only ones in the group who have known they were going to be Omegas, and it formed a bond between them.

This is all so stupid. Literally the only thing that’s keeping Jisung and Hyunjin apart now is their own inability to talk to each other about it. Because Minho is right - does Jisung have to be an Alpha? Is having an Alpha helping Hyunjin that much?

“Why are you being weird?” Chan asks, tipping his head to look up at Felix, where Felix has been having this entire epiphany standing in the doorway of their bedroom. Which means that Changbin also looks up.

“I was just thinking of something,” Felix says, but he smiles and plays it off and goes and climbs into bed with Chan, propping himself up on his elbows and looking down at Chan.

“We have rules,” Changbin says.

“I know, I know,” Felix says. He grins at Chan and leans down and kisses him quickly before rolling off the bed and flopping down on his own.

Jeongin comes home after three days, and he acts like nothing’s any different. He smells like sugar cookies when Felix throws his arms around him and it’s nice.

“Let’s all go and get dinner,” Felix suggests.

“Now that Jeongin is part of the pack?” Hyunjin asks.

“He’s always been part of the pack,” Felix says. “Now he’s just, you know. Omega line.”

“Omega line,” Jeongin says, then laughs.

Jeongin is technically too young to drink, but they do it anyway. It’s easy enough, once they get back to the dorm and literally everyone else there is old enough, so who is going to stop them?

“Felix are you happy?” Jeongin asks, after he’s been squinting into his empty cup for a moment. Hyunjin makes a noise and re-fills his own cup. They’re all going to be hung over in the morning and they’re supposed to have rehearsal first thing and all three of them are going to regret it. “Like, you and Chan?”

“I guess?” Felix says. He hasn’t really thought about it. He feels like he’s happy. Here, with Jeongin and Hyunjin, with his relationship with Chan, with the group of them.

“Felix,” Hyunjin says.

“Yongbok,” Jeongin says.

_Oh shit_ , Felix thinks.

“Are you in love with him?” Jeongin asks. Felix hasn’t thought about it. But if he does think about it, then - 

“Yeah,” Felix finally says. “Yeah, I am.” He and Chan are probably going to bond one day. More than just their little pack, he’d be Chan’s mate.

Hyunjin yells, tipping over backward where he’s sitting. Jeongin is giggling, gleefully drunk. Felix is blushing and covering his face.

“What about you,” Felix demands, once Hyunjin finally uprights himself. “What’s the deal with you and Changbin?”

Hyunjin’s scent changes instantly, going sharply sour and Felix realizes that he’s fucked up. He has to think of a way to smooth it over quickly, because he knows Hyunjin, and knows that he’s on the edge of throwing a fit and storming out, especially since he’s hammered.

“No more talking about Alphas,” Jeongin says, cutting across and reaching for the bottle sitting in front of Hyunjin. He frowns when it comes up empty, but he’s just headed off a blow up, even if Hyunjin is still quiet. “I don’t have one, and we’re celebrating _me_ , so you have to do what I say.”

Drunk Jeongin happens to be extremely charming.

“I’m going to go and get water,” Felix says, because if they don’t drink water, that’s just all the more miserable they’re going to be in the morning.

Felix doesn’t know what exactly happens in the time it takes him to get into the kitchen to get water for the three of them and come back out to the living room. Whatever does happen, it happens fast, because when he walks back out of the kitchen, Hyunjin and Jeongin are kissing.

He stops, frozen in the doorway, trying to figure out who made the move. If it’s Hyunjin, up on his knees, towering over Jeongin who initiated this, his fingers tangled through Jeongin’s bleached out hair. Could Jeongin have asked, and that’s why his hands are clutching so hard at Hyunjin’s waist? Have they talked about this?

And then, Felix thinks, this is two Omegas making out, and that’s nothing, really, because he’s made out with Hyunjin before, and they’re two Omegas. But they weren’t presented then, and these are two people who know, and if Hyunjin wanted to know what it was like, kissing another fully presented Omega, why wouldn’t he ask Felix?

Of course, there’s Chan, on Felix’s side, and that’s probably why, because yeah, okay, Felix is in love with Chan, and he’s already admitted that out loud once tonight, and Hyunjin isn’t an asshole. But where does that leave Changbin, who has been Hyunjin’s Alpha? Has Hyunjin decided he doesn’t need an Alpha and now he’s going to try another Omega? How is that even going to work?

They break apart and Felix wishes he didn’t see the string of spit that connects the two of them when Hyunjin sits back, because it’s gross, but he does. Neither of them act guilty, and Hyunjin just sinks back into his spot. Felix wonders if he’s supposed to pretend he didn’t see anything. They have to know that he saw, right? He hands them bottles of water without a word.

“So like, what are the odds that we sync up?” Hyunjin asks, only a tiny bit mischievous.

“Absolutely zero because that might actually be convenient,” Felix says.

All three of them laugh.

**vii. changbin**  
Hyunjin and Felix are alone in a hotel room together.

It’s just the two of them, because things are getting spicy with the rest of the group. Changbin is having some kind of shouting match with Chan because he’s ‘asserting his dominance as an Alpha,’ according to Minho. Which doesn’t have anything to do with Felix or Hyunjin, really, except for the part where some truly inspired member of their staff said, “perhaps we should get the Omegas out of here” and suddenly Hyunjin and Felix have a surprise night off and a table full of delivery food.

“You think they’re gonna punch each other?” Felix asks. Both of them have eaten way too much food and are stretched listlessly across the fluffy duvet of Felix’s hotel room bed.

“I hope they make out,” Hyunjin says. He might be a little bit drunk. Felix might be a little bit drunk, too. Hyunjin saying it makes Felix giggle.

“Noooo,” Felix says. “I want to watch them wrestle.”

“You want them to wrestle for your affections?” Hyunjin asks. “Big throwdown for who loves Felix most.” Hyunjin reaches out and strokes his fingertip down Felix’s nose. Felix smiles up at him.

“Yes,” Felix says. “I want everyone to fight for my affections. You should have to fight for my affections.”

“With who?” Hyunjin says. “Everyone knows you love me best.”

“No, I love Chan best, but he’s busy puffing up his chest at Changbin right now,” Felix says, and then pouts.

“You know that’s going to be fine, right? Like it’s not real Alphas fighting. It’s just. Changbin being new.” Hyunjin is frowning at Felix. Felix reaches out and rubs his thumb between Hyunjin’s eyebrows.

“You’re gonna give yourself wrinkles,” Felix says.

“Good, then maybe people will take me seriously and see me as more than just a pretty face,” Hyunjin says. Felix notices that he does stop frowning, because sometimes Hyunjin wants to be prickly and spiteful about how he’s the group’s visual, but he’s not an idiot. He knows that he’s stupid hot, and he’s not afraid to lean into it.

“Don’t,” Felix says. He hates when Hyunjin gets like this, because it’s usually a sign that he’s about to go and work until he passes out, which Felix doesn’t like at all. He wonders if he can surreptitiously text Jisung about it. Just to let him know that Hyunjin is probably going to try and work himself to death in the next few days.

“I’m not doing anything,” Hyunjin says. He flops over and rests his head on the pillows next to Felix. Felix reaches out and laces their fingers together, and then Hyunjin brings their hands up and kisses the back of Felix’s.

“You are. You’re getting in your head,” Felix says. “And you know what we’re supposed to be doing?”

“Stuffing ourselves and getting drunk,” Hyunjin says.

“And what are you doing?” Felix asks.

“Thinking,” Hyunjin says.

“You wanna make out instead?” Felix asks.

“Yeah,” Hyunjin says.

And - it’s kind of a thing. Felix thinks he’s kissed Hyunjin more times than anyone else in the world, and that’s fine. It’s safe. They’re both Omegas, neither of them presented, and they’re their own little world, the two of them. Everyone else in the group is something else, or potentially something else. Sometimes it feels like Stray Kids against the world. Sometimes it just feels like Hyunjin and Felix.

Hyunjin is always so sweet to him. They’re not really compatible - physically or sexually. Hyunjin is never going to hold Felix down and rail him, and Felix is never going to grab a handful of Hyunjin’s hair and shove his face into the mattress. Neither of them has a knot to give the other. Neither of them could ever truly satisfy the other - they can just get each other off for the night.

Felix is a little drunk and Hyunjin’s mouth is slick against his and it’s easy to slip his hand into Hyunjin’s sweatpants like he’s done a dozen times before while Hyunjin’s hand is slipping into the back of Felix’s like it’s nothing. Once Felix has a hand on Hyunjin’s dick, he can do all the things that Hyunjin likes, his thumb against the head of Hyunjin’s dick just the right way, until Hyunjin is making tiny noises into Felix’s mouth.

On the other hand, Hyunjin probably gives the best head Felix has ever gotten, probably because he’s never met anyone with a mouth that’s as beautiful as Hyunjin’s or who was quite as willing to put that mouth on Felix’s dick. Felix, particularly tipsy, feels like maybe Hyunjin could suck his soul out through his cock and that would be all right.

He likes the way Hyunjin’s tongue tastes after he swallows.

He doesn’t like the way Hyunjin goes straight to the studio the next day, even though he said he wouldn’t. He doesn’t like the way Hyunjin works until he’s dizzy.

He sends Jisung to talk to Hyunjin, because if Hyunjin won’t listen to fun sex friend Felix, then maybe he’ll listen to Jisung.

Because Felix knows how Hyunjin feels about Jisung. If he won’t admit it to himself, or won’t admit it to Felix, and certainly not to Jisung, Felix can at least use it against him to make sure that Hyunjin doesn’t work himself sick.

Felix doesn’t even feel the tiniest bit bad for that.

**viii. jisung**  
Jisung is having a _day_.

It’s one of those days where everything is low key getting on his nerves. He has a headache. He snaps at Minho even though Minho doesn’t really deserve it - Minho’s just the person talking to him at the time it all becomes too much.

“Sorry,” Jisung says, abrupt. He immediately stops what he’s doing. “Sorry. I’m going to take a break.”

Minho narrows his eyes at Jisung. What Jisung doesn’t notice is the way Minho’s nostrils flare, just slightly.

He goes back to his room and shuts himself in. He can’t take anything else for his headache yet, but he can lie down in the dark for a while, away from everyone. And that’s nice. He doesn’t mean to fall asleep, but he does. He sleeps so hard he wakes up disoriented, but at least his head has gone. It’s been replaced by hunger, which is an easy fix.

The dorm is quiet, which is unusual, which kind of seems like maybe some people are out, because it’s never this quiet with all eight of them there. He finds Changbin and Hyunjin in the kitchen, Hyunjin perched on the counter. They stop talking when Hyunjin catches sight of Jisung over Changbin’s shoulder. Changbin turns and sees Jisung and smiles.

“Hey,” he says. “How’s your head?”

“Better,” Jisung says. He walks to the fridge to rummage for something to drink. “Where is everyone?”

“Chan is working,” Changbin says. “He actually went back to the studio. Everyone else went out to dinner.”

“Why didn’t you guys go?” Jisung asks, opening a coffee from the fridge. He swings the door shut and takes a drink, watching them.

“I um,” Hyunjin says, and kicks his heels against the cabinets. “I’m starting to feel a little… under the weather.”

Ah. So that’s why Changbin and Hyunjin are at the dorm, and everyone else is out. Hyunjin looks guilty - sitting up on the counter, his hair falling over his face, ducking his head down so that he’s not looking at Jisung or Changbin. One hand is between his knees, braced on the counter, and he reaches the other hand up to run through his hair.

Jisung’s chest aches. It’s not just that Hyunjin is beautiful, because he is. That’s part of it. But Jisung is in love with him. Jisung has been in love with him, and he’s had to sit and watch as Changbin has had what he’s wanted, and now he’s walked in on this weird, couple-y moment where Hyunjin and Changbin have stayed home while everyone else has gone out, because Hyunjin is going into heat.

They don’t seem like a couple. They don’t seem any closer than they normally would. It doesn’t feel like the moments where he sees Chan and Felix looking at each other, the times he’s seen Chan smile and brush his thumb over Felix’s cheeks, like Felix’s freckles are a language that only Chan can read, or when Felix bites his lip and smiles at Chan. Hyunjin and Changbin feel like people who are just trying to survive the whirlwind of Hyunjin’s hormones.

“That sucks,” Jisung says like an idiot, because he doesn’t know what to say.

Hyunjin sighs and tosses his hair. “I don’t understand why it’s - why it’s like this?” he says. He’s never said this in front of Jisung before. “Like, we’re doing everything right. And it’s still so miserable.”

“I told you,” Changbin says, his voice soft. “I think we’re just not - you know, compatible.”

“What does that mean?” Jisung asks.

“Just that - no matter what I do, it’s never going to. Work,” Changbin says.

“Alphas are supposed to make an Omega’s heat shorter,” Hyunjin says. “I’d hate to think what mine would be like if I didn’t have you?”

Changbin laughs, quiet. Jisung feels his chest aching again, because he can’t fix any of this. And he wants both of them to be happy - he wants Hyunjin to be happy most of all. And it’s not something he can fix, because he’s not an Alpha. He’s not anything, not yet.

“Should I - should I leave you guys alone?” Jisung asks.

“No, we have time,” Hyunjin says, and slides down off the counter. “Do you want to order dinner? Text Chan and see if he wants anything?”

It ends up the four of them for dinner at the dorm, Chan returning just after the food arrives. Even though he’s back, he takes his food and retreats into the room he shares with Felix and Changbin, because he knows as soon as he’s in the room with Hyunjin that he needs to put a bit of distance between them.

Hyunjin makes a sad face. “I have time,” Hyunjin says.

“Not as much as you think,” Chan says. He leans down and kisses Hyunjin on the forehead and leaves the room.

“And I’m fine because I’m not anything at all,” Jisung says. It comes out bitter, which is fine, because he’s kind of bitter about it. Literally everyone in the group has presented but him. At this point even being an Omega would be fine if he could just get it over with.

“Baby,” Hyunjin says, slumping over and wrapping his arms around Jisung. Jisung loves when Hyunjin calls him baby, even though it’s only ever been as a joke. “Perfection takes time.”

Changbin snort-laughs and almost chokes on his dinner. Jisung wraps his arms around Hyunjin in return and glares at Changbin. He nuzzles his nose into Hyunjin’s hair, and breathes in and - 

“Why do you smell like you dumped a coffee over your head?” Jisung asks. He breathes in again. “Is this new conditioner? It’s nice.”

“No, I haven’t gotten anything new?” Hyunjin says, murmuring into Jisung’s chest. He pulls back and looks up at Jisung. Then, because he’s obnoxious, he flips his hair in Jisung’s face. Jisung’s entire head fills with the sweet scent of coffee full of cream and sugar. He closes his eyes and breathes in again.

“You smell good,” Jisung says. “You know?”

Hyunjin pulls back, leaning his head against the back of the couch, looking up at Jisung. “Hey,” Hyunjin says, and then he smiles, and his mouth moves so slowly that all Jisung can look at is his lips. Does Hyunjin really smell this good or is Jisung just in love with him? Jisung wants to put his tongue in Hyunjin’s mouth.

“Oh,” Changbin says. “Hey Jisung-ah, I don’t think you have to worry about -”

Except he’s reaching out to touch Jisung at the same time. Except his hand goes too close to Hyunjin, and Jisung snarls at him. And then Jisung slaps his hands over his mouth.

“Oh no,” he says. Hyunjin makes a noise that Jisung doesn’t think he’s ever heard before, and he also covers his mouth.

“Okay,” Changbin says, withdrawing his hand carefully. 

Jisung can smell Changbin’s scent, faintly. It’s weird to think that this is just - this is what they smell like. Changbin’s is faint, further away, the barest hint of wood smoke that clings to Hyunjin now that Changbin has been Hyujin’s Alpha for months. It’s overwhelmed for Jisung by the way Hyunjin smells - sweet, creamy coffee, and something - something Jisung can’t quite place.

“Do you smell like this all the time?” Jisung asks.

“No,” Hyunjin says. His eyes are wide and dark and he hasn’t looked away from Jisung since the second Jisung told him he smelled good.

“He always smells like coffee, if that’s what you’re asking,” Changbin says. He leans closer, like he’s trying to get a whiff of what Jisung smells like. Jisung feels the growl in his chest this time, not like it’s disconnected from him like the first time. “He doesn’t usually smell that sweet. The sweetness, that’s the heat.”

“You smell like coffee, too,” Hyunjin says, looking at Jisung. “Like you match me.”

“Oh,” Jisung says. He’s staring at Hyunjin’s mouth again. He feels himself leaning forward, to be closer to Hyunjin. His skin feels hot, and Hyunjin is right there. A pretty, available, fertile Omega.

“Hey?” Changbin says. “I didn’t go anywhere.”

Hyunjin is only surprised for a second when Jisung kisses him. Jisung just has to, fueled by the way Hyunjin smells, so sweet, and he wants to put his mouth all over him, knot him until he screams. And that’s - well, not exactly a thought Jisung has ever had, because he’s never thought about having a knot before. Because he hasn’t.

He’s an Alpha. He’s no longer unpresented, undetermined. He just is.

“Okay, I’m going to get Chan,” Changbin says, and it sounds like it’s coming from far away.

He tugs Hyunjin into his lap and Hyunjin comes to him easily. Jisung reaches up and slides his fingers into Hyunjin’s hair, tugging his face down, closer. Hyunjin’s skin is hot, too, and Jisung doesn’t understand all the things he’s smelling but it’s all good. Everything is so good.

He hears a shriek in the background, and a flurry of voices, but all he can think of is Hyunjin, the way Hyunjin’s mouth feels against his. The heat of Hyunjin’s body, pressed up against his.

Someone physically pulls them apart, and suddenly there are too many smells again, smells that aren’t Hyunjin, smells that aren’t Omegas, even though he knows that there are Omegas nearby, he can smell them, he knows that’s what they are, so sweet - 

All of it washes away and he’s aware, then, that Seungmin and Minho have hold of him and are dragging him off the couch, away from Hyunjin.

“You really shouldn’t have gotten that close to him,” Chan is saying to Felix, and Felix is smiling up at him, and Jisung feels a sharp stab of jealousy.

“I’m fine,” Felix says. “He was very busy.”

“The staff is coming and they’re going to take both Hyunjin and Jisung somewhere,” Chan says. “They said it would be about twenty minutes, while they arrange two rooms.”

“Why are they coming for Jisung?” Jeongin asks. Someone has firmly planted him next to Felix and Hyunjin, on the farthest side of the room as they can get them from Jisung. He doesn’t even know what Jeongin smells like. Felix he got a whiff of - he’s sweet too, and minty, but not sweet like Hyunjin. The two Betas have created a physical wall between him and the Omegas on the other side of the room, and their physical presence has also blocked out the scent.

They’ve helped to clear Jisung’s head a lot.

“Because he’s skipped straight from being unpresented right to being in rut,” Chan says.

“And he wants Hyunjin,” Changbin says.

“Which is fine, because Hyunjin wants him,” Felix says. Several people yell at Felix. “What?” Felix yells back. “Everyone knows! Even Changbin knows!”

“He’s right, I do know,” Changbin says.

Chan stops and rubs his hands over his face. “Okay, this is all. This is stupid. Neither of them can make decisions.”

“I can make decisions, all I can smell right now is Beta,” Jisung says. He runs his hands through his hair, and takes a deep breath. And he has a new appreciation for Betas, for being able to take a deep breath and it just smells like dirt and wintertime and it clears his head.

“I’m not actually in heat yet,” Hyunjin says.

Felix nuzzles his face into Hyunjin’s hair, and Jisung gets mad at that, even though he knows that Felix is an Omega, and if Hyunjin is in heat, Felix has nothing to offer him.

“He’s not,” Felix says. He pets Hyunjin’s hair for good measure.

“Actually,” Changbin says. “Maybe an Alpha rut…”

He’s looking at Hyunjin. Hunjin bites his lip, and his voice is quiet. “Changbin-ah, I’m sorry.”

Jisung growls when Changbin goes to Hyunjin, trying to struggle loose from where Seungmin and Minho are holding him. Why should Changbin be allowed to go near Hyunjin when Jisung isn’t?

Seungmin pins him to the floor and sits on him, and that’s about as far as Jisung gets toward stopping Changbin from going near the Omegas.

“I know it didn’t work,” Changbin says to Hyunjin. “I mean, we tried. But maybe Jisung - and don’t act like it’s not what you want.”

“I’m sorry,” Hyunjin repeats.

“Hyunjin-ah,” Changbin says. “I love you. But not like that. Not like you need an Alpha to love you.”

He kisses Hyunjin on the forehead and it’s so sweet that Jisung doesn’t even growl at it.

“Okay, so -” Chan starts, and there’s a knock on the door. “Are you going together?”

“Yes,” Hyunjin says. “If Jisung-ah wants.”

“He wants,” Felix says.

“Will you hush,” Chan says.

“Make me!” Felix says, and he’s delighting in this way too much.

They take separate cars to the hotel, because no one can guarantee that they won’t jump each other in the back seat of the van. Jisung certainly can’t, because the longer this goes on, the harder it is to think about anything but Hyunjin, and slowly it stops being Hyunjin and starts being Omega, and he’s never been more grateful for the clear, sea-salt scent of the handler that’s in the car with him.

He goes into the room and they close the door behind him. It’s quiet and cold, and he shivers, dropping the back that Jeongin packed for him on the floor. (Jeongin packed it because Seungmin and Minho wouldn’t let him go, and because he didn’t trust Chan or Changbin not to pack something truly stupid. It’s just a change of clothes and his toiletry kit. He imagines the same is in the bag Jeongin packed for Hyunjin.)

He sits there long enough that he starts to worry that maybe he’s going to be alone, that Hyunjin isn’t coming, that he’s become an Alpha and he’s in a rut and he doesn’t know anything about that and he’s here all alone. There’s too much going on in his head now to think about anything he remembers about the time Chan had a rut and was gone for a few days. All he knows is that they’re a lot more infrequent than heat.

He smells Hyunjin as soon as Hyunjin walks in the door. He smells so sweet that it makes Jisung’s mouth water, and he wants. He needs. Hyunjin slips off his shoes and puts his bag down next to Jisung’s before coming over and climbing onto the bed next to him.

“I’m not ready yet,” Hyunjin says, and Jisung doesn’t really understand what that means. He can’t think about it, not really, not with the scent of Hyunjin filling his head. He licks his lips and that’s it for Jisung. He can’t wait any longer.

Hyunjin doesn’t taste like he smells. He just tastes like toothpaste, like he brushed his teeth before he left the dorm to come here. There have been so many times that Jisung has fantasized about kissing Hyunjin - that Jisung would be an Alpha, that he would be able to give Hyunjin what he needs, that Hyunjin would kiss him slow and filthy like this, like he did the one time they were alone in a hotel room in London - and it never felt like this.

Jisung is fumbling to go faster, to get Hyunjin out of his clothes, to get himself out of his clothes. Hyunjin grabs his hands and pins them.

“I’m not ready,” Hyunjin says. And Jisung thinks briefly, Changbin has been knotting Hyunjin for months so it seems unfair for Hyunjin now to say he isn’t ready. But then he gets it.

Hyunjin isn’t in heat yet. He’s close, smelling so sweet and so willing and so - god, it’s weird to think about someone smelling fertile, but Hyunjin does. And Hyunjin doesn’t want for Jisung to knot him when he’s not in heat. And that’s fair, but it’s hard for Jisung to hold back when all he wants to do is knot Hyunjin.

“Okay,” Jisung finally says, because what else can he say to that? He doesn’t want to hurt Hyunjin.

“Just. Just take your time. Please?” Hyunjin asks him. The please sounds so soft and so sweet and Jisung has been in love with him for so long.

“I’ll try,” Jisung says.

He lets Hyunjin hold him down, because it’s easy. Hyunjin’s hands feel huge against his wrists as they pin him to the bed, his hands so hot with his oncoming heat. Soon, Jisung thinks wildly, and he doesn’t know how he knows. Hyunjin straddles his hips and keeps kissing him, sliding his hips back until Jisung’s cock is bobbing hard against against his ass, and Jisung thinks it would be so easy if he could just - 

But Hyunjin doesn’t stop kissing him, lowering his head down to nuzzle along Jisung’s neck. It’s not satisfying, it’s not doing what Jisung wants. Jisung wants to fuck him, and knot him. But Hyunjin’s teeth are on his neck, and it almost distracts from how hard his cock is.

Jisung is starting to break, starting to think that he could overwhelm Hyunjin - Hyunjin’s taller, but Jisung probably weighs more, and he’s an Alpha in rut besides. Maybe he could command Hyunjin onto his back. Except, Hyunjin lifts his head and kisses Jisung soft on the lips and then he’s sinking down onto Hyunjin’s cock and he’s so, so wet and Jisung makes a noise he didn’t even know he was capable of making.

He’s never fucked an Omega before. Nothing could have prepared him for this, and he’s been hard for so long just waiting for Hyunjin to be ready to do this that he feels like he’s going to pop his knot immediately.

“Hyunjin-ah,” he says, and Hyunjin sits up, easing back, taking him deeper, pushing his hair out of his face with one hand.

“Let me do this then you can fuck me with the knot,” Hyunjin says.

He’s already slick with sweat, and each time Hyunjin sinks down onto Jisung’s cock there’s a soft little squelch, and the strangest sensation of slick running down his cock, his balls. It’s disgusting. It’s incredible.

The best part of it all is that Hyunjin keeps riding him, even after he’s popped his knot with a surprised moan, even after he’s heard the little gasp that Hyunjin makes when it happens. He doesn’t feel like they need to stop - in fact, he feels like they do need to keep fucking, that he needs to make sure to pump his Omega nice and full, make sure that it takes, make sure that he’s good and bred.

That’s definitely the rut talking.

He sinks his teeth into Hyunjin’s throat the third time he knots him, sometime in the late morning of what is probably technically the second day. The sound Hyunjin makes is the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard, and Hyunjin’s face is streaked with tears when they finally come to rest beside each other on the bed, locked in place by Jisung’s knot.

“You shouldn’t have bitten me,” Hyunjin says. Jisung wipes at the tear-tracks on Hyunjin’s face.

“You’re mine,” Jisung says simply.

Hyunjin smiles and kisses him.

When Jisung wakes up, he’s briefly disoriented.

It comes back to him in bits and pieces. Oh, he remembers everything that happened at the dorm, the long ride to the hotel. But he doesn’t remember a lot after he went into rut. He remembers knotting Hyunjin. He remembers the beautiful noise Hyunjin made as Jisung sank his teeth in.

Hyunjin is asleep next to him, the bite mark on his neck so obvious, red and purple against his pale skin, his hair a sweaty mess tangled away from his face. Both of them need a shower. Jisung rolls onto his side and slides an arm across Hyunjin, walking his fingers across Hyunjin’s lower back.

Jisung is tired. His whole body feels exhausted. The exhaustion and his mind being so clear now makes him feel like his rut must be over. And he’s an Alpha. And there’s an Omega asleep next to him. And that’s so weird.

The hand moving across his back must wake Hyunjin, because he stretches and buries his face into the pillows. He seems normal. His body seems the normal temperature. Jisung moves closer to him and presses a kiss to his shoulder.

“Hey,” he whispers.

Hyunjin turns his head and looks at Jisung, dark circles and darker lashes. “Hi,” he says, his voice gravelly with sleep.

“You feel okay?” Jisung asks. He keeps touching. Moving his fingers absently over Hyunjin’s skin, tracing patterns up and down Hyunjin’s back. He can just touch Hyunjin now. Maybe whenever he wants. Maybe they should talk about that.

“I feel good,” Hyunjin says. “Tired. But good.”

The one eye Jisung can see closes, and Hyunjin is quiet like he’s going to go back to sleep. Then he jerks upright, looking at Jisung.

“I’m not in heat,” he says. “I’m not in heat? Jisung-ah!”

He sounds delighted, and he throws himself at Jisung, kissing him all over his face. Jisung is happy to lie on the bed and take it. To revel in it, in fact.

He loves Hyunjin.

Hyunjin tugs the blankets up around them and rests his head on Jisung’s shoulder. “You’re stuck with me now,” he says.

“That’s okay,” Jisung says.

“I mean forever,” Hyunjin says.

“That’s okay too,” Jisung says. He’s afraid that Hyunjin just means it because of the whole breaking his heat thing, but maybe that’s okay. If Jisung is what Hyunjin needs, then Jisung is happy to be that. He wants to be more.

They’re quiet for so long that Jisung thinks Hyunjin has fallen back asleep. That would be normal. But then he whispers, “I wanted you to be an Alpha so badly.”

“Because Changbin wasn’t breaking your heats?” Jisung says. He doesn’t dare to hope.

But Hyunjin lifts his head, and like he’s in some fantasy that Jisung barely even dared to have, he says, “because I wanted you.”

“Wanted me,” Jisung whispers, having a hard time processing it.

“Like Felix and Chan,” Hyunjin says. “I mean, not like Felix and Chan, because we’re not them, we’re us, but. Like that.”

“You want me to be your boyfriend?” Jisung asks.

“I want you to call me baby and mean it,” Hyunjin says.

Jisung kisses him, bringing both hands up to tangle in Hyunjin’s hair.

“Baby,” Jisung whispers, and Hyunjin fucking giggles. “Your hair is so gross right now.”

“I know,” Hyunjin says. “I think there’s come in yours.”

**ix. epilogue**  
Jeongin is on the couch watching a movie when Jisung and Hyunjin get home.

Correction: Jeongin is on the couch watching a movie when Jisung and Hyunjin walk through the front door, each sporting massive bite marks on their necks.

He sits there for a minute, staring at them. They’re talking quietly (like he can’t hear them) and slipping off their shoes. He takes a deep breath.

“FELIX,” he shouts at the top of his lungs, like they don’t have neighbors.

Felix is out of his room and down the hall in record time, skidding to a stop in the doorway.

“What? Whatever it is I didn’t - “ He freezes when he sees Hyunjin and Jisung. He points, even though it’s rude as fuck. “Claim marks!” Felix also forgets they have neighbors and he screeches it in his upper register in a way that only dogs can probably hear.

Felix is back down the hallway before either Jisung or Hyunjin have a chance to say anything.

“Minho owes him, like, so much money right now,” Jeongin says, looking at Jisung and Hyunjin.

“Cool, I’m getting my cut,” Hyunjin says, and then runs down the hallway with his bag to catch Felix.

Jisung and Jeongin stare at each other for a moment.

“I love him,” Jisung says, an absolutely idiotic look on his face.

“I’m aware,” Jeongin says. “People in space are aware, hyung. Alien life forms are aware.”

Jisung makes a rude gesture and also disappears down the hall.

**Author's Note:**

> on twitter @ notedgoon


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